PAUSING
Find a quiet place where you can be alone. Take a few seconds or minutes to pause and be still; to breathe deeply, and to re-center any scattered thoughts or desires onto the presence of God.
PRAYING
Lord, let the knowledge of your love fuel my commitment, inform my passions, stir my gratitude, and help me transform the world - for You and Your Glory, Amen.
ENCOUNTERING HIS WORD
"and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”" - Luke 4:17-21
The "Jubilee Year" was a radical society-shaping command in the Jewish law. Leviticus 25:10-43 describes a reset year that takes place every half century. During this year, God's people were called to rest from their work. Every slave was set free, every debt cancelled, and every property returned back to the ancestral family that owned it. Everything was reset on this year and people simply rested. In so doing, they acknowledged that God was the owner behind all their resources and God would be the beneficiary of their trust. This amazing system also helped the land from being over-harvested, and eliminated generational poverty and economic oppression.
This Jubilee theme is what echoes throughout the Isaiah passage that Jesus read in the synagogue. With these words, Jesus announced He is the Messiah that brings a new and better Jubilee. The Jubilee that Jesus brings is not a once-in-a-half-century event but an ongoing, persistent reality where God's grace and love abound without measure. Jesus announces that he comes to bring hope to the impoverished - both in the material and in the spirit. He proclaims that His freedom isn't for those that are bound only to material debt, but for those that are bound to the debt of sin. Jesus' mission is to come and hit the reset button for all of us. Whatever it is that you think is keeping you from intimately enjoying God, no longer has to be a thing. Jesus wipes away every spiritual debt in order to make us one with God again.
As followers of Christ, we are called to embody this freeing message of Jubilee in our lives. We become instruments of good news, agents of grace, and advocates for justice. Anytime we come into the presence of oppression (of any kind), we reflect the character of our Messiah and we articulate hope and restoration by proclaiming and living out the Jubilee of Christ to those in need.
REFLECTING AND PRAYING
The concept of Jubilee in a culture shaped by materialism may be deeply challenging. Is there anything that you own that you would struggle to give up? What might God be showing you about particular possessions that might be possessing you?
GODS PROMISE
"Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”." - Matthew 28:18-20
Find a quiet place where you can be alone. Take a few seconds or minutes to pause and be still; to breathe deeply, and to re-center any scattered thoughts or desires onto the presence of God.
PRAYING
Lord, let the knowledge of your love fuel my commitment, inform my passions, stir my gratitude, and help me transform the world - for You and Your Glory, Amen.
ENCOUNTERING HIS WORD
"and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”" - Luke 4:17-21
The "Jubilee Year" was a radical society-shaping command in the Jewish law. Leviticus 25:10-43 describes a reset year that takes place every half century. During this year, God's people were called to rest from their work. Every slave was set free, every debt cancelled, and every property returned back to the ancestral family that owned it. Everything was reset on this year and people simply rested. In so doing, they acknowledged that God was the owner behind all their resources and God would be the beneficiary of their trust. This amazing system also helped the land from being over-harvested, and eliminated generational poverty and economic oppression.
This Jubilee theme is what echoes throughout the Isaiah passage that Jesus read in the synagogue. With these words, Jesus announced He is the Messiah that brings a new and better Jubilee. The Jubilee that Jesus brings is not a once-in-a-half-century event but an ongoing, persistent reality where God's grace and love abound without measure. Jesus announces that he comes to bring hope to the impoverished - both in the material and in the spirit. He proclaims that His freedom isn't for those that are bound only to material debt, but for those that are bound to the debt of sin. Jesus' mission is to come and hit the reset button for all of us. Whatever it is that you think is keeping you from intimately enjoying God, no longer has to be a thing. Jesus wipes away every spiritual debt in order to make us one with God again.
As followers of Christ, we are called to embody this freeing message of Jubilee in our lives. We become instruments of good news, agents of grace, and advocates for justice. Anytime we come into the presence of oppression (of any kind), we reflect the character of our Messiah and we articulate hope and restoration by proclaiming and living out the Jubilee of Christ to those in need.
REFLECTING AND PRAYING
The concept of Jubilee in a culture shaped by materialism may be deeply challenging. Is there anything that you own that you would struggle to give up? What might God be showing you about particular possessions that might be possessing you?
- Pray for politicians, business leaders, bankers, and economists that shape the economic culture of our country. Pray that God would use them to create systems of liberation instead of oppression; equity instead of inequality.
- Pray that God would show you how to join in God's work of liberation in the lives of those around you.
GODS PROMISE
"Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”." - Matthew 28:18-20